FC Kochin, SBT draw

Formidable F C Kochin survived a barrage of attacks from State Bank of Travancore before holding them to a 1-1 draw in a fifth National Football League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Kochi on Monday night.

Kochin shot into the lead in the seventh minute through Liberian striker Aaron Cole while SBT drew parity through their star striker T Ignatious.

Much was expected from the Kochin team after their initial burst which saw the diminitive Cole, after a passing bout with fellow striker Sunday Seah, dodge past a couple of defenders and place the ball into the cage.

SBT found their rhythm midway through the session and gave several anxious moments to their famed rivals. In fact, with little bit of luck they could have walked away with the match.

SBT got a golden chance to level the scores in the 30th minute but Kochin goalkeeper Dinesh Nair showed alacrity in palming away a free-kick by Shabbir Ali.

However, five minutes later, SBT got the vital goal when Ashif Saheer, who got possession, sent in a through pass to Ignatious, who let go a powerful shot then touched the finger tips of a diving Dinesh before bulging the net.

With this drawn match, FC Kochin moved to 34 points from 20 matches while SBT improved to 17 from as many matches.